Young' love
by Sketchy Tetra
Summary: The unvanquished love between the two partners, Nowi and Ricken is special, each moment a treasure. Requested by the helpful Dreamwalker20! Thank you!


AN: Thanks for requesting and the ideas Dreamwalker20!

Every night, it happened. Nowi flopped over in her distressed slumber, facing her new husband, Ricken.

"Stay here Nowi."

Her old spouse had told her in her forty winks , the scene de ja vu to the most devastating that has happened in her 1,000 something life,

"Gregor will be back!"

With that, the man dashed off in the sand, striking a risen in the face, it counter-slashing when more enemies plummeted in, Nowi weakly gasping, shocked none were hitting her and at the fact she was too injured to help him in the swarm of the dead. Despite her wounds, she got up in a wobble, Lissa standing behind,

"Woah Nowi, settle dow-"

"One minute!"

The Manakete limped off, activating her dragon stone swiftly, swooping to the middle to retrieve what remained of … the Corpse? Returning to the rock Gregor had stored her under, she looked at her catch with sorrow. Had he left to be a distraction, was it his intention to let her be lonely? Lissa seemed to be searching for a pulse frantically, Nowi sobbing, hoping for the best out of the worst.

Ricken yawned, waking to the rising sun. He savored the warmth for a few more moments, scooting out of bed. The boy glanced over at his beautiful sweet wife. How she loved to over rest, but something caught his attention, glassy colorless beads dripping a trail down her delicate face. Ricken warily advanced closer, a sniffle puffing from her nose, a weep bouncing back. Ricken set his hands on Nowi's torso, giving her a firm, yet gentle shake in attempt to draw her out of what seemed a paining dream, her eyes opening when she lunged up and hugged the awakener,

"Oh Ricken,"

He could feel her pull away as she whimpered,

"I reminisced Gregor's death all over again."

Ricken sat aside Nowi, holding her hand,

"Just push it out of your head, it's fine."

Nowi glanced to the side, avoiding eye contact with the young mage, who refused to leave her side until she was confirmed alright. Nowi gawked at the ceiling, still scarred when she fibbed,

"I'm alright."

Ricken had a vibe this wasn't honest, yet understood his wife desired to leave.

"If you say so…"

He spoke skeptically, kissing Nowi on the forehead, walking off with Nowi right behind him, she didn't want to experience that visual cruelty. The duo kept the conflict private, the next night coming too quickly for Nowi, who was already under the covers with Ricken, who was already dozing. Reluctantly, she closed her eyes.

Little baby Cynthia was at the bottom of a slide, Car in hand as she tried helplessly  
to boost it up the chute which had juice being poured down it, courtesy of an infant Owain, the small girl seeming not to give up to the fluid being spilled on the rut, the tiny male reaching for another box when he seemed to loose footing, tumbling the female child's obstacle, taking a hard clash to the cranium, which collided with his rival. Nowi's eyes widened as she got up to examine the catastrophe, the blue haired child what took the fall not breathing, scarlet dappling his face from the pale blonde's head, who had also bit the dust. Nowi felt tears in her eyes once more as she glanced around fervently, a blood bath behind the red stained playset, Sumia downed by arrows impaling her many angles by what seemed Virion, who had his bones busted by a hoof. Lissa, too was laying, flesh battered by flame, soon tracked down to Henry's archfire, the tome's wielder jabbed by the sharp sticks like his wife. To this, Nowi squeaked, remembering the care that the four deceased had given her, letting her bawl in terror.

"Nowi?"

Ricken had awoke to a boisterous whine of disturbance, him holding his wife as she awoke glossy-eyed.

"It happened again,"

She summarized, Ricken's face harrowed,

"But this time, it was others, who are still alive!"

The distressed manakete nuzzled on the mage's chest while in his embrace, Ricken cooing to her,

"I'm so sorry Nowi,"

His face then brightened the dark room,

"Just think of me! Then the bad dreams will go away."

And so she did, more confident than ever.

Waves crashed on the shore, reaching for Nowi's toes as she smiled, leaning toward Ricken, who was aside her. The orange sunset made ripples look like the sea was set a blaze. On second glance, it was! Ricken had tugged Nowi up, running closer to town, the manakete getting dragged through the outskirts when Ricken stopped, a dagger of a bandit penetrating through his back when her wrists were bound, tied to a pole near the docks where the sickening shadow of more stabs taken to the still figure, then tossed into the ocean of ember, never to be seen again.

"Ricken!"

She cried, mourning over her new partner, the agony striking again, yet worse. A jerking motion was acted upon the chain of Nowi's as Faith was filing the binding away. Nowi didn't want to go. She wanted to die, only to be with Ricken. The metal broke apart, Chrom forcing her to move by picking her up, Faith jogging up, leading us into a forest, where trees where plentiful as well as death. A tomahawk jutted out, striking the tactician in the head, another fell, Chrom not relenting which Nowi found odd, yet couldn't stand the loss of a good friend whom taught her several skills,

"Stupid dream!"

Ricken, again, was awoken by a kick to his back,

"Nowi?"  
The dragon girl was now grunting, jerking about restlessly, Ricken reaching for the glass of water on his nightstand, dumping it on her chest, making her lurch abruptly, sitting up. By now it was 5 AM, Nowi caterwauling once more,

"Ricken! Youre alive!"

Ricken grimaced at the words, then held her tight,

"Nowi, it's just a dream,"

He soothed, Nowi panting out tears,

"I assure you whatever took place, won't happen."

His wife seemed to ignore this motivation, he had lied once to her, this can't be true. Ricken laid back to finish 3 more hours of shut eye, Nowi ogling at the wall intensely, her desire for catnaps away from her thoughts as she sat without a sound, her eyelids drawing to a shut to get the evil images over with.

Up for the day, Ricken rolled over to check on his vexed wife, finding her trembling as if reflecting on her imagination, eyes glassy and pink,

"Nowi? Are you ok?"

The greenette said nothing, Ricken placing the back of his hand on her forehead, no heat.

"Let's try to get up."

Nowi quietly aimed her stare at Ricken, him furrowing his brow, making a mental note of her unusual behavior. Grasping her hand, Ricken escorted the lifeless shell outside, offering her a seat beside him on a plush thicket, declined speechlessly, Ricken inquiring,

"Baby, what did you dream about?"

Nowi gulped, speaking hesitantly,

"Everybody… In our team…"

Ricken nodded as if whishing to hear more,

"They all died… in the end… besides me…"

Despair struck Ricken's emotions again, the burned Manakete mumbling on,

"All in front of me… one by one…"

Ricken felt his eyes heat up, this wasn't easy to get over.

"Oh honey…"

He didn't know what to say to her, but he did know what to say to the rest of the army.

"Chrom,"

He brought to the head's attention,

"I have to speak with you."

The prince lended his ear, Ricken discussing his situation with Nowi, Chrom seeming stunned,

"I can't see how anyone can take that misery!"

"Me neither, and I think she's barely holding on,"

Ricken huffed, anxious, wrapping up,

"Felt good to let that out, see ya Chrom!"

The older man sat in thought, waving a hand to send the young fellow away.

The large guild was cloaked in astonishment over the innocent girl's dream.

"Well, that's a bit…"

Cordelia looked at the floor, disturbed from the tale the manakete spoke of, Noire, who had her ears covered the whole time since she had first heard died, squeaked,

"So that's why…"

The black haired sniper cocked her head, Nowi had been awkward today.

"It's kind of like creepy pasta, with us in it!"

There flies Henry's typical optimism, The planned thwack upon his scalp from Sully,

"Boy, ya really love hell, yeah?"

Nowi walked to the side, her release of night time afflicts not enough to make her as before. She slumped back to her tent, not wanting to see her companions only to remember them deceased. Thereon the cot of hers and her husbands she remained, past hours on hours when Ricken arrived around 6 PM. He seemed flustered his spouse hadn't relaxed, but it made sense. A magnitude of a hungry tummy mewled, definitely not the teen himself, who had just ate dinner. He paced over to his traumatized wife, finding her a bit paler as a contrast to earlier.

"Nowi? You haven't ate?"

He believed it was only him in the room, the manakete replying gravely,

"I don't deserve to eat."

Good lord, she was beginning to sound an emo.

"You do too, let me get you somethi-"

"Then I'm not hungry…"

Ricken frowned in concern, though it was only a day, she looked more skinny than normal. He picked up the light body, placing her under covers,

"Then maybe you can rest?"

Nowi shook her head, getting past the quilts, placing herself at her prior spot.

"Nowi, water?"

Ricken offered, all of his ideas milked out when she gestured a no,

"I'll only end up not saving anyone…"

The whole time Nowi considered the casualties, she scolded herself. She could have ignored Gregor's command and rescued him, she could have stopped Ricken's charge before he was stabbed. She could have picked up Owain before he fell. Ricken's eyes collected liquid as her reminded,

"It's just a _dream!_"

He was frightened, no sleep or energy could lead to death. H e hugged her, no emotion on the lady's face as he drifted off to a snooze with tears.

The sun came, Nowi shocked it appeared so soon, she hadn't gotten a second of closed eyes, Ricken getting up, Nowi watched him, muted.

"You didn't sleep, did you."

Nowi remained blank, Ricken clenching his jaw, he would have to talk this over some more with the others.

The barracks were full of soldiers, all of their faces deep with upset. Chrom had ran up to Ricken,

"Is she better?"

Upon close observation, each conversation contained Nowi. He wasn't the only nervous one. Ricken pouted,

"No, if anything, worse."

Ones around him gritted their teeth, this was going to be hard to cure. There must be a way! Faith who was with Chrom then perked,

"What has she been saying?"

Ricken felt mawkish again,

"She claims she doesn't deserve food or sleep, and she could have saved us."

Moe gasps from nearby folks. Tharja butted in,

"I could force her to sleep."

Ricken seemed more jittery,

"You'll only put her in a month long coma!"

The pink haired tactician then snapped her fingers,

"You have to show her how critical she is to us, that we promise not to die on her from combat! I don't think she'd want to let us down."

Ricken pursed his lips, then smiled,

"I'll try that!"

With excitement, he sprinted home.

Nowi was right where she was 16 hours ago, sitting cautiously on the mattress, Ricken inviting,

"Nowi, please come outside with me."

Tentatively and slow, she got to her feet, waddling after him as he fussed,

"You know you shouldn't worry about your us passing,"

Nowi seemed to ignore that,

"We aren't going to die, we'll avoid it anyway possible, please trust this!"

Nowi seemed sentimental once more as he continued,

"You can save us, you just have to try! No matter where we are, we're always there for you."

Nowi lead the snuggle as she bobbed her head,

"I hope so, Ricken."

He smiled, her coat of glib was broken,

"I know so."

No matter how long it may take, Ricken would prove it.


End file.
